About me

This blogname was derived from the novel The Secret Life Of Saeed The Pessoptimist by the Palestinian Israeli Emile Habiby: absurdism as weapon against the (ir)realities of daily life in Palestine/Israel. (The subtitle is from a book by Dutch author Renate Rubinstein. It could as well be my motto).
My real name is Martin (Maarten Jan) Hijmans. I've been covering the ME since 1977 and have been a correspondent in Cairo. I started my 'Abu Pessoptimist' blog in January 2009 out of anger during the onslaught in Gaza. The other one, The Pessoptmist, is meant to be a sister version in English. (En voor de Nederlandstaligen: ik wilde in november 2009 een tweede blog in het Engels beginnen en ontdekte te laat dat als je één account hebt, een profiel dan meteen ook voor allebei de blogs geldt. Vandaar dat het nu ineens in het Engels is... So sorry.)

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Some 55 killed during weekend of protests in Syria

Update Sunday 22/5:
The total deth toll on Friday appeared to be 44. On Saturday again 11 people were killed. Al-Jazeera English had the following video:

Tanks around the Syrian town Arida near the border with Lebanon. (Reuters)

Syrian security forces shot dead at least 30 demonstrators on Friday during protests that broke out across the country in defiance of a military crackdown. Activists reported demonstrations across Syria, from Banias and Latakia on the Mediterranean coast to the oil producing region of Deir al-Zor, Qamishli in the Kurdish east and the Hauran Plain in the south."No dialogue with tanks," said banners carried by Kurdish protesters in Qamishli who shouted "azadi," the Kurdish word for freedom, rejecting promises by the authorities for a national dialogue, a witness said.Protests also erupted in Damascus suburbs and the capital's Barzeh district, where two witnesses said security forces fired at protesters and chased them in the streets.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which is based in Britain, said at least 831 civilians had been killed since the uprising against autocratic rule erupted in the southern city of Deraa nine weeks ago. It said at least 10,000 people had been arrested, including hundreds across Syria on Friday.Human rights lawyer Razan Zaitouna said at least 30 peole were killed on Friday. Twelve in the town of Maaret al-Numan, south of Syria's second city Aleppo, another 11 in the central city of Homs and seven others in Deraa, Latakia, the Damascus suburbs and Hama.